Chapter 169: Leaving Qingzhou City

Sensing that Lu Canyang had been burned to ashes, Gu Mo finally let out a slight sigh of relief. A sudden wave of weakness washed over him, and he slowly sat down on a nearby broken brick to rest.

Simultaneously, the many Six Doors constables present also felt a sense of relief, as if they had narrowly escaped death.

"Brother!" Gu Chudong rushed over immediately, taking Gu Mo's hand and channeling a stream of internal energy to check him. Only after confirming that Gu Mo was not seriously injured did she sigh in relief. "Brother," she asked, "Lu Canyang must be dead, right?"

Gu Mo chuckled. "If he's still alive after that, then I truly have no other way."

With that, Gu Mo stretched out his hand and, with a pulling motion, drew the Gouchen Demonic Blade, which was stuck in the ground, towards him.

The moment the blade entered his hand, Gu Mo could feel that it was indeed different from before. He could still sense the special energy it contained, but he no longer detected the demonic power that could influence one's mind.

However, he distinctly felt that the Gouchen Demonic Blade seemed to be somewhat resistant to him.

Gu Mo immediately surmised that this might be the legendary phenomenon of a divine weapon choosing its master, what weapon smiths refer to as 'spirituality'.

At that moment, Zhuo Qingfeng also hurried over. "Brother Gu, how are you?" he hastily asked. As he spoke, he took a pill from his pocket. "This is a Tiger Palm Bear Gall Pill," he explained, "it's specially for internal injuries."

Gu Mo waved his hand. "Brother Zhuo, I'm not injured, just a bit tired. I just need to rest for a while to regain my strength."

"Are you really alright? Don't try to be brave," Zhuo Qingfeng urged. "Qi Miaoxuan is over there treating people. If you feel uncomfortable, just call him to take a look."

"I'm really fine," Gu Mo said with a smile, then asked, "By the way, Brother Zhuo, how did you come up with the idea of using the Ancient Buddha Relic against Lu Canyang?"

Zhuo Qingfeng explained, "It was Miss Chudong who enlightened me with a single phrase. I had told her about how Lu Canyang used the Gouchen Demonic Blade to lure Zen Master Dingchan to Soul Severing Cliff. Afterward, Miss Chudong said she found it strange that Lu Canyang, who could clearly have killed Zen Master Dingchan and avenged himself with his personal strength, chose to 'use someone else's knife to kill' instead.

"I hadn't realized this before, but when Miss Chudong mentioned it, I immediately found it peculiar too. Then I asked Qi Miaoxuan and learned that Lu Canyang and Zen Master Dingchan actually had a lot of history. Both of them liked Yan Xianmei, but Yan Xianmei preferred Zen Master Dingchan.

"Later, Zen Master Dingchan, being exceptionally talented, gradually surpassed Lu Canyang in martial arts. The two even had direct conflicts over Yan Xianmei, with Lu Canyang being suppressed by Zen Master Dingchan. That incident was the direct reason he became desperate to forge the Gouchen Demonic Blade, as he was greatly provoked.

"We just witnessed Lu Canyang's character; enduring for decades indeed shows great perseverance, but his arrogance after achieving success was truly boundless and utterly unbridled. For someone with such a personality, if he wasn't apprehensive of Zen Master Dingchan, how could he have resorted to a scheme of indirect murder instead of personally and honorably killing him?

"I pondered it over and over, and then I thought of the Ancient Buddha Relic. This is the purest and most pristine natural treasure in the world, with a strong deterrent effect against evil spirits, ghosts, and demons. I also asked Qi Miaoxuan and learned that the Ancient Buddha Relic is not something left behind by a legendary eminent monk upon nirvana, but rather a Bodhi fruit from the Great Brightness Temple's most precious Ancient Buddha Bodhi Tree. It's nourished by enlightened monks with the purest Buddhist internal energy, and it generally takes several, even a dozen, generations of Buddhist masters passing it down to cultivate a true relic. The true essence lies in the 'Buddhism' or 'Buddha-nature' within the relic.

"At that time, I had a bold conjecture: the reason Lu Canyang was still apprehensive of Zen Master Dingchan to this day was very likely because Zen Master Dingchan possessed an Ancient Buddha Relic, and it was that relic he feared."

Gu Chudong asked, "Aren't you afraid you might have guessed wrong?"

Zhuo Qingfeng shrugged helplessly. "Given the situation today, we had to take a gamble, didn't we? Besides, Brother Gu was there; he would surely protect me."

Gu Mo smiled. "You have more confidence in me than I have in myself."

"Hehe," Zhuo Qingfeng patted Gu Mo's shoulder. "I've come to realize, Brother Gu, you're typically the kind of person who gets stronger when faced with a stronger opponent. I have a feeling that even if there was no Ancient Buddha Relic today, you would still have been able to defeat Lu Canyang."

Gu Mo smiled faintly and shook his head, saying nothing.

Because he wasn't sure if he could have truly won without Zhuo Qingfeng using the Ancient Buddha Relic to suppress Lu Canyang's Qilin Sacred Blood.

Neither his Blazing Sun Divine Art nor his Yi Sword Art had been unleashed to their full potential, and he could also sense that Lu Canyang hadn't pushed the Qilin Sacred Blood to its absolute limit either.

"Brother Zhuo, are there really Qilins in this world?" Gu Mo asked.

Zhuo Qingfeng frowned. "I don't know. I've never seen any related records in the Six Doors' archives."

"The world is vast and full of wonders." At this moment, Qi Miaoxuan, who had temporarily stabilized the injuries of Xie Mingzhong, Ye Jinglan, and Chu Tianqing, walked over. "I have never seen a Qilin," he said. "The 'Qilin' that our Nine Righteous of Qingzhou besieged at Soul Severing Cliff back then was merely a person who had succumbed to demonic influence, covered in scales like Lu Canyang is today, and the misinformation spread, turning him into a rumored Qilin.

"However, that person back then was nowhere near even ten or twenty percent as strong as today's Lu Canyang. Furthermore, that person only regained consciousness right before his death, whereas Lu Canyang remained lucid throughout.

"But even though they are human, that Qilin Armor and Qilin Sacred Blood are real. Where did these things come from? If there are no Qilins in the world, how can these two items be explained? We don't know; we haven't seen them. Perhaps we just haven't had the opportunity."

Gu Chudong asked, "But if there really are divine beasts like Qilins, their appearance would surely cause a huge stir, yet we've never heard of such a thing."

Qi Miaoxuan chuckled. "Miss Gu, the world is vast. The Qian Kingdom alone has eight prefectures, and beyond the Qian Kingdom are more than a dozen other countries. To the east of the Qian Kingdom is a vast ocean; no one knows what lies at its end. South of Loulan is a desert, and no one knows how large that desert is. The far north is a series of endless ice mountains; who knows what's hidden within them?

"Leaving those aside, just consider our Qian Kingdom's Miao Region. How many people have come out alive from the depths of the 100,000 Mountains? And of those who did, how much land have they actually traversed? So, the world is so vast that there will always be things that people like us don't know exist."

Zhuo Qingfeng sighed. "A single drop of Qilin blood made Lu Canyang almost invincible, and one Qilin scale could forge such a powerful Gouchen Blade. I truly can't imagine how powerful a Qilin would be if they really existed. Wouldn't they truly be capable of slaughtering cities and destroying nations? But what reason would cause such a mighty Qilin to bleed and shed scales?"

"Who knows?" Qi Miaoxuan looked at the pile of ashes on the ground, all that remained of Lu Canyang. He sighed softly. "Fame and fortune... alas, how many heroes and great figures throughout history have failed to escape the shackles of these two words? Eldest brother, obsessed for a lifetime, enduring for decades, but in the end, isn't it all the same?"

As a gust of wind blew, the pile of ashes scattered with it.

Zhuo Qingfeng let out a soft exclamation of surprise. "Senior Qi," he said, "when you besieged that demon-possessed person back then, a drop of blood and a scale armor were left behind. Why is there nothing left of Lu Canyang?"

Qi Miaoxuan shook his head. "It's different. That person back then merely obtained the Qilin Armor and Qilin Sacred Blood and had no idea how to properly use them. Through prolonged contact, he gradually became controlled by their demonic power and fell into madness.

"Lu Canyang, however, was different. He discovered a method to utilize the Qilin Sacred Blood, dividing it into three parts. All three parts of the sacred blood successfully nurtured spirits, and then he integrated them. This so-called integration was, in fact, infusing the Qilin Sacred Blood into his own bloodstream, essentially transforming his blood into Qilin blood.

"If that person back then had been as powerful as Lu Canyang is today, there's no way we would have been besieging him. Our Nine Righteous of Qingzhou would have simply become a joke, foolishly killed by a Qilin."

Gu Mo understood Qi Miaoxuan's meaning: Lu Canyang had diluted the Qilin Sacred Blood and integrated it into his own bloodstream, thereby gaining the Qilin's divine power. Immediately, he asked, "So, if Lu Canyang had remained hidden and continuously sought ways to increase the purity of the Qilin blood within him, he could have become stronger and stronger?"

Qi Miaoxuan pondered for a moment. "Great Hero Gu, what you suggest is not impossible, but in my opinion, it's more likely that the power of the Qilin Sacred Blood is fixed. Its effectiveness simply depends on the recipient's tolerance and ability to utilize it. Back then, Lu Canyang couldn't withstand the full power of that single drop of Qilin Sacred Blood, which is why he had to divide it into three parts, injecting the other two into the spirits of Ye Jinglan and Chu Tianqing to cultivate for him."

The commotion at Divine Weapon Manor was significant, drawing many martial artists from the city who came one after another to watch the spectacle. After all, the decisive battle at Soul Severing Cliff had only been yesterday, and many martial artists had not yet departed.

Fortunately, the Six Doors were present to maintain order, so no further trouble arose.

Gu Mo and his group quickly departed under the Six Doors' arrangements, while Divine Weapon Manor was naturally taken over by the Six Doors.

Gu Mo, Gu Chudong, and Qi Miaoxuan found an inn to rest. As for Zhuo Qingfeng, although he wasn't part of Qingzhou's Six Doors, they had suffered heavy losses that night and were short-handed, so he naturally had to stay.

The next morning, Gu Mo had someone deliver a letter to Zhuo Qingfeng, while he, Gu Chudong, and Qi Miaoxuan left the city together.

The events of the previous night were significant: the Six Doors had lost a grandmaster and dozens of experts. Chu Tianqing and Ye Jinglan were both seriously injured. Such a major incident would undoubtedly become widely known within a couple of days, and Gu Mo, as the central figure, would certainly attract a lot of attention. He wondered how many people would come to visit him.

Therefore, Gu Mo decided to make a swift departure.

The reason he had previously remained in Qingzhou City was to await the Gouchen Demonic Blade. Now that it had been forged, there was no need to linger. Conveniently, he had also originally planned to visit Brightness Temple before leaving Qingzhou, and this way he could escort Zen Master Dingchan's body back to Brightness Temple together with Qi Miaoxuan.

Furthermore, it meant no wasted time; once their trip to Brightness Temple concluded, he could immediately have Qi Miaoxuan begin treating his eyes.

Qi Miaoxuan naturally had no objections to Gu Mo's arrangements; in fact, he was quite pleased. With a formidable expert like Gu Mo accompanying him, his safety was well-assured. Moreover, he wouldn't have to make a special trip back to Qingzhou City afterward.

Early in the morning, the three of them rode their horses out of Qingzhou City.

By noon, they had caught up with the Mysterious Maiden Palace's group.